Martyn Moxon is hoping Yorkshire CCC make a flying start to the 2019 county season from today while he will be keeping an eye on the conclusion to his beloved Barnsley FC’s promotion chase.
The 58-year-old from Stairfoot is the director of cricket at Yorkshire who begin their County Championship campaign at Nottinghamshire this morning. He is also a lifelong Reds fan and has been following their attempts to return to the Championship this season. Daniel Stendel’s side are currently second, with six games remaining, but Sunderland have two games in hand and could knock them out of the automatic promotion places.
Moxon told the Chronicle: “It’s really the business end of the season now. “Sunderland have a very heavy fixture list and hopefully that is a negative for them. I have been to quite a few games this season and Barnsley have done really well so it would be gutting if they dropped into the play-offs now.
“It was a massive blow to lose Kieffer Moore (the top-scorer whose season was ended by a head injury in February) but his health has to come first. Hopefully they can finish strong. “It might be more tricky for me to get to games now the cricket season is starting but hopefully I will get to some before the end of the season.”
Moxon has been involved in title races with Yorkshire in the past. He said: “You can only control what you do and not the other teams. You just need to keep doing what has been successful for you during the season and have confidence that it will get you to where you want to go.”
Moxon is hoping Yorkshire, who he played for as well as England and Monk Bretton CC, can return to competing for trophies this season. In 2018, they battled relegation from Division One of the County Championship before winning their last two complete matches to move up to fourth out of eight. They also failed to reach the knockout stages of the Twenty20 Blast, losing three of their final four group games, and were beaten in the semi-finals of the 50-over One Day Cup.
Moxon said: “We’re all looking forward to the season. We have assembled a squad full of young players with a lot of potential, but we have a good blend with experience as well. The players seem to have gelled really well with each other and there is a very good environment in the dressing room.
“We accept we have been going through a transitional period and that inconsistency cost us last season, especially in four-day cricket. But we did well at the end of last season when we were really under pressure and hopefully we can carry that on. We want to go as far as we can in all three competitions and hopefully win a trophy.”
While Gawber man Azeem Rafiq was released by Yorkshire at the end of last season, there is still a Barnsley presence in the playing squad at Headingley. Spinner Jack Shutt, 21, is from Elsecar and will be hoping to make his first team debut this year.
Moxon said: “Jack had an awful season last year with injuries but he is better now and hopefully he can make an impact in the second team then push for the first team. “He’s certainly got a lot of potential and we’ll be looking to give plenty of opportunities to young lads from the second team this season.”
